Based on the opening sentence of the article “A third-party analysis commissioned by the Illinois-based Commonwealth Edison Company estimates the company’s 5.4 million Illinois utility customers could save $2.8 billion on electric bills over a 20-year period if smart meters are implemented,” the projected savings are only $2.16/month/customer.

On a quick scan:

1. Primary savings are due to reduction in nonmetered electricity delivery (i.e. Theft), the cutoff of deadbeats, and remote meter-reading.

2. Time of use load shifting is given no weight at all.

3. Voluntary reduction in electricity use is given very little weight.

4. Substantial weight is given to not having human meter readers.

5. A statement is made, more or less, that omission of the service disconnect switch would significantly deplete savings, to the point where the economic viability of the smart meters becomes questionable. They are really depending on cutting off those deadbeats for electricity conservation.

6. No mention is made at all of “conservation voltage reduction.”

7. An economic value is given to reducing carbon emissions, which in my view is nonsense which should be excluded.

8. Black & Veatch mentions health and privacy issues, only to say that these were not studied.

9. No weight was attributed to alleged increases in reliability and faster outage management.